tenth person

Talking to Morgana wasn't the scariest event Merlin had ever encountered, and it didn't even make the top ten of his "scares me to death" list.

Camelot, the name of this bar, but it's not night at all, and the sign hanging outside the door is still "Closed", the bar is empty, only the old bartender Gaius came out from behind the bar and served him and Morgana a cup of tea .

"You know I can see, don't you kid? Your actions tell me you can, too," Gaius said, "but I can only talk to people I've been in contact with, like Arthur." The straight-to-the-point "self-introduction" made Merlin a little uncomfortable, and he shifted in his seat, "Well..." He nodded a little guilty.The first night when Arthur walked in, Gaius poured him wine without saying a word, and Merlin knew that the old man was "the same kind", so he also dared to talk to Arthur, and even reached out his hand impulsively.

"It was your friend who came in with you the first night?" The bartender continued to ask, "Is he next to you now?"

"Yes, Will," Merlin nodded again, "he sometimes comes to see me at work, and he just follows, ghost friend." He laughed at himself.

Will waved at the others, but Gaius said he could see something roughly waving.

"Leave that alone," Morgana said, "I can only see Arthur, the rest is not important."

"Oh," Will clutched his chest when he heard this, "this is the first time in hundreds of years that I've felt so hurt!"

Merlin shot him a sideways look to keep him quiet.

"Merlin, Gaius said you could see Arthur every night, every day, every night." She rested her elbows on the table, leaning forward and staring at Merlin.

Merlin looked between her and Gaius and sighed, "Yes."

"What!" Morgana yelled. "Even yesterday? I came here yesterday without him, Gaius?"

"I haven't always seen him lately," Gaius pursed his lips, "I haven't seen him for a few days, I thought he wasn't there yesterday, but then this kid came, and I can tell you saw him It is." The old man sighed.

"Three days, he thinks you're ignoring him," Merlin muttered. "He's frustrated."

Gaius was taken aback, then dropped his head and sighed again.

"...You can still touch Arthur?" Morgana stared at Merlin with a frenzied gleam in her eyes.

Merlin dreaded the frenzy, but Gaius cut in before he could respond: "He can, I saw him shake Arthur's hand, and I guess you touched after that?"

Morgana's expression has completely changed. She changed from the cold, ruthless and high-ranking queen to a sister in an instant. She looked at the old bartender with reproach in her eyes: "He can? And you just told me?" Gaius said a little Hesitant, but also a little guilty: "I... I asked him to call you." He looked at Merlin.

Morgana looked at him too, desperately pushing like she did the night Merlin first saw her and Arthur, she looked like she wanted to slap Arthur on the head or kiss him but held back Didn't do that.

Although that's impossible to do.

Ordinary people can't see them, let alone leave any mark on them, and of course they can't drink, but they think they can.They thought they were alive.

It occurred to Merlin that Arthur had mentioned that his touch was warmer than expected.

And Merlin also remembered holding Arthur's hand for the first time, it was very different from meeting other ghosts...

Perhaps aware of his thoughts, Morgana stretched out a hand, the hand covered with dark red nail polish covered the back of his hand, tightened tightly, and her low voice was like a muffled thunder rolling behind the clouds:

"He didn't die, he didn't." After a pause, she added a word, "Temporarily."

Merlin stared up at her in surprise, and Gaius' eyebrows almost popped out of the top of his head.

Morgana's face was pale, but her pale eyes stared back at him firmly, "But he's not alive either."

"How is that possible..." Merlin murmured in amazement, "I've seen some... dying ghosts, the body hasn't died yet... but it's only temporary, and Arthur has?"

"One month, he's been wandering like this for almost a month..." Morgana lowered her head, then raised it again, "Maybe I did it."

This time, even Gaius' eyes widened.

"What…?" Merlin opened his mouth.

"Morgana!" Gaius yelled under his breath.

"You shouldn't have done that," Will said in a voice only Merlin could hear.

"He's my brother! What can I do!" Morgana yelled, "I can see him! I was the first to the scene of his car accident! I saw him... floating there! Doctors doing cardio Resuscitated but...he's leaving...he's leaving I can't...I can't let him go I can't...I hold him, I beg him to stay..."

Morgana's voice was low, and Merlin was stunned by the message: a fresh, warm-skinned, real Arthur?Arthur in sportswear or a t-shirt or anything other than a gray suit, Arthur who doesn't bother to open an umbrella on a rainy day and gets his hair wet, Arthur who sleeps like a mess but doesn't have dark circles under his eyes...

"Is he still alive?" Merlin murmured. "Where is he?"

"Merlin," Will said beside him, warningly.

Soon, he understood what Morgana meant, not dead, but not alive either.

They came to an overly pale room, which is said to be the best ward, with large windows, a giant display screen on the wall showing pictures and sounds of mountains and rivers, ventilators and heart rate monitors, etc. Surrounded by all kinds of life support equipment, the standard-sized hospital bed seemed small, reminding Merlin of the inconspicuous tomb among the magnificent tombstones in the luxurious cemetery.

"The hospital informed me last night that he almost lost his vital signs..." Morgana looked at her brother indifferently, "He is dying..." The ending was so thin that it was almost inaudible.

Merlin couldn't control his breath, the air smelled of potion, but there was also a hint of his familiar, Arthur smell.But he hasn't really met Arthur, has he, souls are odorless.

What's more, he didn't even know this pale corpse-like Arthur, this wasn't Arthur, this couldn't be.

Merlin stared at the familiar face of the sleeping man with his eyes closed and thought, no, he couldn't let Arthur disappear from his life, no, never.

"Merlin, don't," Will whispered.